Stephen Digby is a lifelong learner, educator, IT consultant, and music lover.

Digital Publishing - Pro Bono and by Consultancy

I strongly support Google's projects to digitise the worlds books. This project has been opposed by publishers basically because it "disintermediates" them i.e. makes many of their services redundant. It has the capacity to assist most authors by giving them cheap and permanent (?) access to a world audience through being searchable.

There are so many individuals and groups that record detailed and fascinating local and individual histories that are published once in small numbers and then the research is lost after a mere decade as the published works disappear from everyone's access except perhaps the dedicated professional historian.

Google books and other systems like lulu allow these small groups to publish permanently and have their content searchable either free or for purchase.

In many cases, groups publish a few hundred copies initially and then, when these are sold, put their books online for digital viewing on google as well as paper sales through lulu.

If you have such a group or need, I might be interested in helping - free, depending on availability and the nearness of your topic to my heart !